Winning Favor
At that very hour, the imperial capital of Dadu was unfolding exactly as Bai Jingyan had predicted.
Under the Emperor's thunderous command, the Crown Prince dropped to his knees at once and, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, confessed everything.
He claimed that his advisors had urged him to exploit the Gaoyi Commandery Princess, but knowing the Zhenguo Commandery Princess's temperament, he had feared she might break the Liang King's legs — so he had used the Nan Tao Commandery Mistress instead.
He had only wanted to show the Emperor the Liang King's true ambition of coveting military authority, he said, and added a warning that His Majesty must be vigilant. He had schemed this desperate, ill-advised stratagem purely out of fear that the Emperor's paternal feelings might lead him to a disastrous misjudgment.
The Emperor had originally intended to bury the whole matter. But the moment the morning court session ended, the streets outside the palace erupted with salacious rumors about the Liang King and Liu Yafu.
The household of the Minister of Rites was thrown into utter chaos. The servants ran in and out of the doors like mad, as though the family's fortunes had collapsed overnight.
The estate was nominally under the iron hand of Old Madame Wang, but she had fainted dead away from the shock. The eldest daughter-in-law stepped forward and repeatedly ordered the household to keep their mouths shut, yet her authority fell short of Old Madame Wang's, and the rumors leaked out anyway.
The Minister of Rites, Lord Wang, hurried into the palace and begged the Emperor to summon the Liang King. Then he reported the truth plainly: Liu Yafu had lost her chastity the previous night.
The Emperor was left utterly helpless. So the affair between the Liang King and Liu Yafu was already circulating beyond the palace walls?
Before he could even devise a countermeasure, word arrived that envoys from the State of Liang, who had come to Dadu to negotiate peace, had reached the palace gates demanding an audience. His fury boiling over, the Emperor felt a pounding headache coming on.
After Lord Wang withdrew, the Emperor could no longer contain his rage. He vented his fury on the Crown Prince, hurling a teacup across the hall.
"Look at what you've done!"
"Father, Father! I never dreamed it would spiral this far! If it had, nothing good could possibly come of it for our Jin — do you truly believe I did this on purpose?"
The Crown Prince kept speaking, still on his knees before the Emperor.
"Your son only wished for you to see the Liang King's true heart. I never had the slightest intention of letting him take Commandery Mistress Liu Yafu as his wife!"
"Besides... I only rendered the Liang King unconscious. I merely gave him a sleeping draught, nothing more."
The Crown Prince looked bewildered, his face drained chalk-white.
"How could the Liang King possibly lay hands on the Commandery Mistress? That makes no sense at all."
The Emperor's temples throbbed. As if he could not fathom the Crown Prince's scheming.
The Crown Prince would never want the Liang King to marry Liu Yafu. Behind Liu Yafu stood the Han King; Liu Yafu was the Han King's only child, and the Han King held military power.
The Emperor closed his eyes slowly. The reason he had long favored the Han King — the reason he had never suspected the man who commanded such troops — was that the Han King had once saved his life at the risk of his own. In doing so, the Han King had been wounded so grievously that he could never father another heir, and his only child was Liu Yafu.
The Emperor believed he owed the Han King an immense debt. That was why he cherished him above the other princes and doted on Liu Yafu as if she were his own daughter.
The Han King in Nan Tao had not yet heard the news. When it reached him, he would surely vomit blood. He had raised his one and only daughter like gold and jade; the moment he learned her name had been defiled, he would collapse where he stood.
But how had the news spread so quickly?
Could it be... the Liang King's doing?
The Emperor found his frail, feckless son suspect yet again. If such a rumor spread, the only one to profit would be the Liang King himself.
With matters in this state, Liang would never accept a Commandery Mistress whose reputation had been sullied as the wife of the third prince. Yet to appease the Han King, he would have no choice but to bind the Liang King and Liu Yafu together.
Still, the Emperor hesitated. He decided to test the Liang King — to see whether he had truly stumbled into the Crown Prince's trap, or whether he had seized the opportunity to take the Han King's only daughter as his bride.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes and summoned Gao Demu.
"Bring the Liang King here."
The Liang King, freshly washed and changed into clean robes, followed Gao Demu into the great hall and bowed with meticulous deference to the Emperor and the Crown Prince.
Just as the Crown Prince opened his mouth, the Emperor stopped him and addressed the kneeling Liang King.
"The Minister of Rites, Lord Wang, has just been to the palace. Word of you and Liu Yafu has spread so far that even the Liang envoys who came to negotiate peace are now clamoring for an audience with Us. What do you propose We do about this?"
The Liang King could not lift his head, his fists clenched tight. This was the golden opportunity — the chance to take Han King's daughter Liu Yafu as his wife.
He looked up at the Emperor with an expression of pure astonishment.
"Impossible! You mean everyone knows?"
The Liang King turned his gaze toward the Crown Prince.
"Crown Prince... elder brother? Surely not..."
"Would the Crown Prince be mad enough to spread such a tale himself?"
The Emperor ground his teeth, suppressing the fury surging up within him.
"Speak. What do you propose we do?"
"Father... I, I..."
The Liang King hung his head powerlessly and answered in a voice that barely crawled out of him.
"Then... doesn't that mean Zhengzhen knows too? If Zhengzhen finds out, how she must resent me..."
The Crown Prince nearly barked at him to stop groveling so pitifully before the Emperor. Just then, the Liang King spoke again, choking back tears.
"But... the Nan Tao Commandery Mistress is blameless. If I... if I have defiled her honor, then I will take responsibility for her."
The instant the words left his mouth, the Emperor hurled his teacup with all his strength at the Liang King.
"To think Our own son harbored such grand ambitions. We never knew you — never knew you at all. How long have you been scheming to wed the daughter of a minister who holds military authority? And why, exactly? Planning to stage a rebellion, were you?"
The color drained from the Liang King's face in an instant.
"How could I ever dare entertain such reckless thoughts? Father, I have never once conceived of such a thing. Did you not just say the rumor has spread and everyone knows? Then tell me — in this situation, what am I supposed to do?"
Watching the Liang King pound his forehead against the floor until it bled, the Emperor clenched his fist, then waved a hand in irritation.
"Enough! Stop that."
The Liang King flinched violently and prostrated himself, trembling and weeping where he lay.
"With matters as they are, you will have to take Liu Yafu as your wife. But mark this well — this is the last time We will forgive you. Do you understand?"
The Emperor spoke. The Liang King, kowtowing frantically, could not get a single coherent word out.
The Crown Prince returned to the Crown Prince's residence seething with rage. Advisor Fang reported that not one of the spies he had sent to watch the Liang King had returned — they had all vanished, presumably killed. At those words, the mere thought of the Liang King sent a violent dread surging through the Crown Prince, along with an overwhelming, suffocating anxiety.
It startled him too, that the Liang King had capable men at his disposal.
There was nothing more to think about. The affair between Liu Yafu and the Liang King had unquestionably been orchestrated by the Liang King through his agents.
Yet on the other hand, the Crown Prince was worried. If he returned to the palace now and reported this, it would also expose the fact that he kept private spies in his own household.
Even when he confessed to the Emperor that he himself had laid the trap for the Liang King, he had feared the Emperor might probe the matter in detail. Fortunately, the Emperor had let it pass, and he had breathed a sigh of relief — but to go back and bring this up again would be digging his own grave.
It was obvious the Emperor had summoned the Liang King and asked how he wished to resolve the affair with Liu Yafu as a test. And since the Liang King had offered to take her as his wife, the Emperor would surely be on guard against him now.
"Post men at the King Yang Estate to keep watch. A long tail always gets stepped on eventually!"
The Crown Prince spoke, his face dark and drawn.
"The Nan Tao Commandery Mistress Liu Yafu is a woman of fierce pride. If her body has been defiled and she's forced to marry the Liang King against her will, she'll carry her hatred into that household like a hidden blade! Ah — summon the Crown Princess! I must have her look into everything about Liu Yafu!"
Zhan Yu answered and hurried out, returning shortly with the Crown Princess.
Because Bai Jingyan's party had to bring along Dong Zhengzhen, who was unaccustomed to long journeys, they paused to rest at intervals along the road. By the time they reached Suyang, the eighteenth of the seventh month had nearly arrived.
Bai Jingyan and Bai Jinchi had won battlefield honors in the Northern Jiang campaign — one was crowned a Princess, the other a Commandery Princess. In the eyes of ordinary commoners and the imperial clansfolk alike, it now appeared that the Bai family's daughters enjoyed extraordinary favor from the throne.
Before departing for Suyang, Bai Jingyan had sent word ahead of when she would arrive at the Bai Manor. Lady Dong had deliberately told none of the clan relatives.
Bai Qihua was an honest man; he had never pried into the matter of Bai Jingyan's disappearance from Suyang, and out of concern that she might find it unpleasant, he had made no attempt to learn anything either.
His wife, Lady Fang, however, was remarkably bold. She had secretly sent people to investigate Bai Jingyan's movements behind Bai Qihua's back, and when he discovered it, the two of them fought a terrible battle. That very morning, Lady Fang had packed her belongings and left for her family's home.
The Prefect and the District Magistrate met once more at the city gate. Though the encounter was by chance, neither showed any surprise. The Magistrate raised his hands in a courteous salute and smiled.
"I hear Your Excellency's youngest son now serves under the Zhenguo Commandery Princess. Word has it that he's been put in charge of training the soldiers at the drill grounds, and that he has already won the Commandery Princess's favor — my congratulations, in advance of the official report!"
The Prefect sat solidly beneath the canopy, teacup in hand, unhurriedly savoring his tea before replying.
"Master Zhu, has the matter of the Bai clan relatives been concluded?"
"Of course. When I heard the Zhenguo Commandery Princess would return to Suyang today, I came especially to report. Those to be exiled have been exiled, and those sentenced to hard labor are at hard labor! The law demands strict punishment, does it not?"
The Magistrate answered with a broad, beaming smile.
He had submitted his memorial of penitence fully expecting that this time, at the very least, demotion was unavoidable.
He had never imagined his superiors would impose a penalty of a mere half-year's salary.
He was certain it was because Bai Jingyan had mentioned the matter before the Crown Prince and spared him. Thinking of it that way, the Magistrate's spirits soared.
Half a year's salary meant nothing to him. What mattered was that the Zhenguo Commandery Princess had gone out of her way for him — that she regarded him as one of her own people.
Behind the mounted guards, a procession of carriages slowly rolled into view. The Prefect rose, walked out from beneath the canopy, straightened his robes, and stood waiting with respectful formality.
Mounted on her horse, Bai Jinchi spotted the Prefect and the Magistrate standing in the distance and arched an eyebrow. Then she bent down toward the carriage and spoke to Bai Jingyan inside.
"Big Sister, the Prefect and Magistrate came out to the city gate to greet us again. How is it they've never missed a single time — unfailingly, every single occasion..."
Inside the carriage, Bai Jingyan set down the bamboo scroll in her hand, gazed for a moment at the deeply sleeping Dong Zhengzhen, then raised a hand to lift the carriage screen, leaving a narrow gap.
"A brief greeting is all we need."
"Understood!"
"Have Nuo Ping come to me."
Nuo Ping rode up alongside the carriage.
"Eldest Young Miss..."
Bai Jingyan turned her gaze from the still-sleeping Dong Zhengzhen and lowered the screen again.
"Make good preparations for later. It's a bother, but Nuo Ping must make a trip to see Qi Zhengyu. On the way here, I heard rumors that bandits have been abducting children — find out what's going on."
"Yes, Eldest Young Miss! Rest assured, I will investigate thoroughly and report back."
Nuo Ping bowed his head.
Of all people, Bai Jingyan knew best what had become of the Suyang bandits.
Qi Zhengyu would never, under any circumstances, come down from the mountain to steal children.
At first she had heard only that children were vanishing without reason. But on the road to Suyang, the word was that bandits rode down from the mountain in broad daylight and snatched the children away.
And when parents climbed into the mountains to search for them, the bandits were said to kill them.
Bai Jingyan mulled over the matter for a long while before concluding that it would be wise to have Nuo Ping confirm it.